WEST LOS ANGELES—Sean McMillan, the 70 year old lawyer and pilot who was killed on impact when his plane crashed in a residential
neighborhood at 6:15p.m. on Friday, is being called a hero by witnesses and
friends.

According to a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration,
McMillan radioed the control tower at Santa Monica Airport declaring an
emergency shortly after taking off. A few minutes after the radio transmission,
witnesses report seeing a Cessna 210 flying low before crashing into an empty
intersection.

A wall enclosing a front yard was damaged when the plane
crashed, as well as a palm tree which caught fire when the plane went up in
flames. The crash site was either very lucky, or McMillan managed to set his plane
down in an area without pedestrians, avoiding any casualties other than his own.
According to NBC, neighbors claimed McMillan would have tried to avoid crowded
areas to protect people on the ground.

McMillan was a lawyer at Greenberg Traurig, and often
volunteered with Angel Flight.